Stewards uphold Perez penalty

NEWS STORY20/06/2014

Following a further review of the incident in Montreal, Race Stewards in Austria have upheld Sergio Perez' 5-place grid penalty.

The FIA opted to review the penalty after his team made it clear that in the wake of the accident in Canada they were unable to speak to their driver. Consequently when the original investigation took place they did not have any input from him.

In a rare move, the Stewards in Austria, opted to review the incident and the penalty imposed.

However, having heard from both Perez and Felipe Massa, talked to team representatives, viewed video evidence and studied the relevant telemetry, the Stewards ruled that the 5-place grid penalty for this Sunday's race should stand.

The reason for the decision to upheld the penalty, according to the Stewards in Austria, is that the driver of Car 11 (Perez) contended that the new element(s) evidenced that in defending his position he was exercising his right, under Article 20.4 of the 2014 Formula One Sporting Regulations, to use the whole track.

However it was clear to the Stewards that the defence of his position occurred in the braking area. Article 20.4 specifically states that any right to defend by using the whole track must occur prior to any braking area. Accordingly the driver of Car 11 was not entitled to defend his position in the manner he did.